Customer Reviews

CCNA Certification Library (CCNA Self-Study, Exam #640-801)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

First, let me tell you where I'm coming from so you know what kind of spin this review has. I studied for the CCNA about two years ago using Lammle's CCNA book first and then Odom's, but I never got around to taking the exam. Now I'm trying to ramp back up to take the comprehensive CCNA exam (640-801). One thing I can say for certain is the study materials from Odom and Cisco Press have improved over the last two years.

In case you didn't pick it up in the description, the "CCNA Certification Library (CCNA Self-Study, exam #640-801), Sixth Edition" contains two volumes: the "CCNA INTRO Exam Certification Guide (CCNA Self-Study, 640-821, 640-801)" and the "CCNA ICND Exam Certification Guide (CCNA Self-Study, 640-811, 640-801)". If you're planning to take the comprehensive 640-801 exam, go ahead and get this Library with the two books - they cover all the material on the 640-801 as well as the material for the two separate exams.

First, the good news:

- One pleasant side effect of Cisco's decision to split the CCNA into two exams is that the Cisco Press review materials are now split into two volumes. Tell me, how many of you resented having to schlep around that monolith 640-607 Certification Guide? Well, now there are two volumes - one for each exam required for the CCNA. Now you have the option of just taking "half a book" with you while studying for the comprehensive exam.

-The INTRO and ICND books were designed to be used together to prepare for the 640-801. The books include a reading map that shows which sections in each book should be read in what order. This lets you get complete coverage of each major topic before you move on to the next.

- Another nice feature of the books is the "Do I Know This Already?" quiz at the beginning of each chapter. If you've been involved in networking for a while or you've studied for the CCNA before (like me), taking these quizzes can keep you from wasting time reading about things you already know. Taking them also keeps you from possibly missing some arguably odd things that Cisco deem important enough to include in the exam(s).

- Odom and Cisco Press definitely do a much better job explaining networking fundamentals. If you're new networking and/or the CCNA, you'll definitely want to start with the INTRO volume. Basic concepts are covered there first and, in my opinion, covered well.

- The accompanying CDs include PDFs of the books. Also, the exam and router simulators on the included CDs are a nice bonus, but I already have a couple of 2501's and a 1900 at home I can use for lab scenarios.

Now, the bad news:

- The bane of all technical exam guides: ERRATA!!! Although the number of errors in these books is way down since the 640-607 Certification Guide (49 vs. 80 at last count), to me, nothing is more obnoxious or problematic than a test preparation book with errors. We use these books to learn and study. Whenever there's an error it undermines the learning and that defeats the purpose of the book. What I'd like to know is how those 49 errors got past the *three* CCIE's who were the Technical Reviewers for the books.

- Some of the figures are counter-intuitive. For example, some of the figures in the INTRO book showed data flowing from right to left. We read left to right, so using diagrams that move right to left seemed a little perplexing.

- For some inexplicable reason the PDF versions of the books on the CDs are of the 1st printing while the books are 2nd printings. This will drive you nuts when you start finding errors on the PDFs that aren't in the printed versions.

Even with these problems, this Library is the best bang for the buck when it comes to preparing for either the comprehensive 640-801 or the INTRO and ICND exams. As a bonus, it's written by Cisco Press, so it's much more likely the material you see on the exams will have been part of your reading. If you do get the library and install the exam simulators, make sure you download the update from the Cisco Press Web site; it takes care of some errata in the test engine.

I'm giving this Library 4 stars due to the number of errors in the books and the disparity between the versions of the printed books and the included PDFs. Overall, those may be small quibbles on my part. Regardless, short of attending the Cisco Networking Academy, this Library is the best prep you can get for taking either the comprehensive CCNA exam or the two separate exams.

Cisco Press' CCNA Self-Study Certification Library by Wendell Odom consists of two books: the ICND guide and the INTRO guide, corresponding to tests 640-811 and 641-821, respectively. Passing each of those tests will make you a CCNA; so will passing combined exam 640-801.

I passed exam 640-801 in one try, with no real networking experience and having taken no classes. The ICND and INTRO books comprised my primary training materials.

Although it is possible to enroll in official ICND and INTRO courses created by Cisco, the books that make up this "library," apparently, are not the books used in those courses. Within the ICND book, Odom refers to "the ICND course, on which the exam is partly based," suggesting that what you have in your hands is a reverse-engineered study guide: a study guide for an exam that is based on a course that does not use said book. Odom occasionally presents tables that he claims come from the ICND course. Clearly, some parts of the course are not fair game for the study guide.
In other words, don't think that just because you are reading the official Cisco press CCNA study guides, you are dealing with a set of information that is as close as possible to the set of information from which the test was drawn.

Studying these books will prepare you for the CCNA in the same way that reading the Encyclopedia Britannica from A to Z will prepare you to identify the capital of Nairobi. It goes without saying that a CCNA candidate should not be studying just to pass a test, she should be studying to qualify herself for a job. But in this case, the difference between the material presented and the material actually making up the test is excessive.

Odom goes to a lot of effort to make the reader feel like he is being spoken to by a friend. "Fun, isn't it?" he writes, after presenting an illustration of function groups and access points that I had to re-draw for myself several times in order to understand. Later, he describes Inverse ARP as "another case of learning by listening, a great lesson for real life!" Gee, thanks. The subtle condescension in the non-humorous asides, the gleeful overuse of exclamation points, and the fable in which Pebbles Flintstone invents networking is compounded by the persistent contextual encapsulation of every single topic in the book. Odom tells you what he's going to tell you, then he tells you, then he tells you what he's told you, much more than necessary.

A better way to put the flustered reader at ease might have been to proofread the books. The ICND guide, especially, is so full of typos that it is often embarrassing to read. In some cases, these are nothing more than obvious misspellings that can be passed over without much more than a little annoyance (e.g. ICND p. 472, "status enquiry messages"). In other cases, the meaning of the sentence is muddled. Worse, the configuration examples have obviously not been proofread either, resulting in, for example, the prompt "R1(config)#" when the appropriate prompt is "R1(config-if)." The difference may seem trivial, but understanding its significance is the kind of stuff the CCNA is all about.

Each book comes with a CD containing a practice test engine and a router simulator (both from Boson). The mistakes in the ICND book pale in comparison to those in the CD test engines. In fact, an argument could be made that studying with those practice tests will hinder more than help the CCNA candidate who has not read the books thoroughly enough to recognize the mistakes. Many multiple-choice questions count correct answers wrong and vice versa (and some of these are taken directly from the books, which usually give the correct answer). A configuration entered into the CLI on a simulator question will be graded as wrong, and the user will then be presented with an identical configuration as an example of the correct way to solve the problem.

None of these problems change the fact that these books will, if used correctly, absolutely help you pass the CCNA. But do it this way: Read the INTRO book. Take the exam right away. If you don't pass, flip through the ICND book and find the areas that you actually need to work on. You'll save months of study time that could be better spent working on your CCNP.

I have used the books to learn for the 640-801, and even if I passed it with flying colours 3 years ago, I didn't pass it this time, as the exam is much more comprehensive than in 2001.

These books were the only material I have used to prepare, and I guess that was my mistake, as the content of the books doesn't cover 100% the material you actually have to know for the real exam.

Apart from the standard questions, there were few tricky ones about routing protocols, mainly EIGRP and OSPF, and one question was about DR and BDR (designated router and backup designated router), and I didn't even know what the terms mean, so I guessed wrong...

Needless to say, the terms are not even mentioned in these books. I have quicly checked (with special thanks to Amazon for the very helpful 'Look inside' feature) the index of Sybex's CCNA book and 'designated router' is mentioned on three different pages. You guessed right: I checked that after the exam... :0

So, even it's been said many times before, maybe someone will listen: never rely on a single source of preparation for the exam... :)

These two books helped me pass the test (640-801) on the first try after about two months of self-study. I also used and recommend Boson Netsim, even if you have access to a live Cisco network for the hands-on lessons. I also used and less enthusiastically recommend the CCNA Flash Cards and Exam Practice Pack which is worth the price, but is incomplete in its coverage and annoyingly produced.

Building on what some of the other reviews have written, I thought these books are very well structured and clearly written. Each chapter is framed by a "Do I know This Already?" Quiz at the beginning and a Q& A section at the end which I found to be well done and useful. Frequently, I found I didn't know enough detail and depth about things that I thought I knew. And several times that level of detail was crucial to answering questions on the actual exam. Also Odom provides some nice tips for quickly solving subnetting problems; which is one of the things that I knew but needed to know better. And the CD with the practice questions was very useful and, I thought, very true to the actual exam.

There are a few typos in the book and a few things that perhaps could have been better explained, but these are really minor problems for such a substantial work that has so much right about it. Frankly, more often I was wrong when I thought I'd come across a typo, and nailing it down really fixed whatever detail it was in my mind. Do print out the errata and keep it handy. You'll probably also want to fill out your studying by looking at some Cisco papers on the web; I found myself reading more at Cisco about EIGRP, configuring NAT and zero subnets the night before the test. I recommend avoiding most other free study sources on the web because they are rife with errors.

Having now taken and passed the test and reflecting on where I was weakest; I'd have to say the only major weakness from my book and netsim studies was with troubleshooting. Here more experience with a production or real test network would have come in handy. You need to know which show and debug commands to use for particular problems, where to look for errors across multiple routers in your configuration or to see problems in your route tables, and such. And you need to do this all quickly. These books cover the commands but don't give you problems where you need to apply them.

One final comment about why I liked and recommend these books is that while they are focused on the test and giving you tips about passing the test; they also do a really good job of teaching you about the topics and not just what you nee d to answer the questions. There was enough theory and history to help contextualize why these technologies developed in the way they did; what their strengths and weaknesses are, what problems they solved and created and so on.

Let me first say that I took the CCNA exam last week (March 2005) and passed with a 933 (849 needed for pass). I have networking experience with Cisco equipment on an enterprise network, but it had been several years. I used these two books and the Boson Netsim for CCNA exclusively as study resources. I studied full time for two weeks, beginning the day after receiving the books, and at the end of two weeks took the exam.
I thought Odom did a wonderful job explaining concepts and teaching you how to implement and troubleshoot them. Frankly, when I read the negative comments in these reviews, I don't understand them. For example, one reviewer commented that in an OSPF section of the exam he didn't know what the terms DR and BDR meant so he guessed. I'm not quite sure what he was reading because this volume covered those areas well. My advice for going through the material is to take the "Do I Know This Already" quizzes at the beginning of each chapter, and then reading the chapter anyway, even if scoring a (near-)perfect score. You may be able to skim through sections if you already know the material well, but be sure to at least skim through it.
The included practice tests were a great resource. I used them well to find gaps in my knowledge and get used to the testing process, including managing my time. There were some annoying errors in the program but I was able to work around them with a little experience.
There were a few questions on the exam that I guessed on, so today I went back into the books and found the answers. They were just areas I hadn't covered as deeply as others. But the topics were covered.
Overall, I strongly recommend these two books if you want to be well-prepared.

When I was studying for my CCNA, many years ago, I didn't have a two part option. Now that Cisco has made available the option to take the CCNA certification exam in two parts, this is the set of books to use for studying. The first book in the library is CCNA Intro which is the exam prep for test 640-821. The other book in the set is CCNA ICND which prepares the reader for the 640-811 test. Each book also comes with a CD containing practice questions using the Boson test engine. It also has a customized copy of the Boson NetSim LE network simulation software.

The CCNA Intro gives an overview of a broad range of topics, from the OSI model, fundamentals of TCP/IP and IP addressing. I was very impressed with the way the material was covered in this volume. It presents IP Fundamentals in a very easy to understand way. I really liked the "Do I Know This Already" quizzes presented at the beginning of each chapter. These pre-quizzes help the student gauge their knowledge of the subject matter and home in on where they need to study more.

The CCNA ICND has the same layout and features of the Intro book but it covers more of the core Cisco technology with particular emphasis on routing and switching. This book progresses from LAN Switching thorough advanced IP Routing protocols and access lists. I was amazed at the depth the author went into concerning the routing protocols. As I remember, I wasn't required to know a whole lot about OSPF or EIGRP; I had to wait until I started preparing for my CCNP to delve into these subjects.

The CD that comes with each volume was outstanding. The practice questions use the Boson test engine and were a very good representation of the actual CCNA exam. The test engine has multiple choice questions, fill in the blanks, and router simulation exercises. I know that the full version couldn't have been included, but the NetSim LE network simulator, that was included, was quite adequate.

Personally I preferred the CCNA Certification Library over the study guide I used to prepare for my CCNA exam. To me it presented the information in a much easier to understand format and covered the topics in more depth. If this library had been available when I was studying for the CCNA, it would have made my studies much easier. This is a great study aid for those new to networking and those pursuing the CCNA.

For what it is for, this book is great. And it is also one of the easiest to follow technical books I have ever read.

INTRO gives you a great overview of OSI layer 1-4 and 7. Session and Presentation layer were not covered as much as other layers. Mostly used protocols on each layer were explained well though some of the protocols need more work such as SNMP. Cabling is also covered in the intro book which is good.
ICND starts to pick up pace. STP, routing protocols, advanced routing, advanced tcp/ip, and wan technologies are covered in this book which could get you a little frustrated if you are a beginner. Keep at it and you will be fine. Do not give up.

There are some typos (honestly not that many) so go to book's website and get a list of erratas. I agree with some other reviews that the book does not cover everthing that could be on the exam but you should pass the exam with only these 2 books if you thorougly understand everything. For example, OSPF DR BDR and neighboring relationship are not covered very well.

For sim questions, make sure you remember VLAN, RIP, OSPF, EIGRP, NAT, and dynamic NAT configurations cold. These will be on the exam. At the mean time, you could spend less time on frame relay and ISDN configs because I think the chances of those showing up as your sim question is almost 0.

Good luck on your exam

I have all three versions of Wendell Odom's Cisco Press CCNA books. This latest set, the CCNA Certification Library is by far his best work.

His first two books were great, if not a little overwhelming. I find myself constantly returning to them as a reference in the field.

But these latest 2 books, "Intro to CCNA" and "ICND" (included in the library) are right on target.

Beginners will find the Intro book a great place to start learning the technology.

The ICND book gets a little deeper but builds upon the foundation laid by the Intro book.

I found the questions in the beginning of each chapter helpful as they let me assess my knowledge of a subject and it gave me an idea if needed to go over a chapter again.

I loaded the CD that comes with Books and it had practice questions. I did find a couple of questions that seemed incorrect, but over all a huge improvement over the Cisco Press CD's of the past that were full of errors.

All in all, I believe that the Certification Library set is the best CCNA title from Cisco Press yet. I found them highly informative, easy to read, and the "Wow this is a thick book" factor has been toned down considerably. Plus the 2 book approach makes it easier for a non-technical person to ease into the CCNA at their own pace.

I think if you are pursuing the new CCNA 640-801,811,821 or for those looking for a great reference book. This set is a good buy.

Even if you know nothing about networking, these books would be a great place to start. If you do know about networking, they'll prove to be an excellent review. The exam questions are good (some could be better phrased) and the end of chapter summaries are excellent. However, there are some rather obvious sloppy mistakes that Cisco made. Some of the answers to the questions in the book will not match the answers to the same questions on the cd, which can be confusing and annoying at times. Also, I've found a fair share of typos in the book, things that a simple spell checker could have caught. Excellent book overall, but you'd think they could proof read the final copy before publishing....

This is a good resource to prepare the following CCNA exams
640-801 or 640-811 and 640-821.

Although information is not 100% up-to-date and with some errors in the book, but good enough to get me pass CCNA in Jan 2005 in first try. I think these two books are very comprehensive, however if you need the latest information I guess you need to do some search in www.cisco.com

For Errata go to http://ciscopress.com/title/1587200953#

I found out the NetSim LE is very useful which is free come with the CCNA libary package. The full version NetSim go to www.boson.com to find out more detail information

Good luck on CCNA